Duke Rape Prosecutor’s Bankruptcy May Not End His Money Problems

Personal Lives

Duke Rape Prosecutor’s Bankruptcy May Not End His Money Problems

Posted Jan 15, 2008, 04:24 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

The punishment continues for a disbarred North Carolina prosecutor who lost his job and his law license after pursuing a meritless rape case against three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team.

Mike Nifong filed today for bankruptcy against creditors, including the three athletes found by the state attorney general to be innocent of raping a stripper at a team party, but even this move may not end his financial worries, reports Bloomberg. In his petition, which is filed in the Middle District of North Carolina, he lists assets of just under $250,000 and debts of more than $180 million. That includes liability of $30 million each to the three former lacrosse players, who sued him in October.

"This looks like a smart move for Mr. Nifong,'' says Charles "Chuck" Tatelbaum. A bankruptcy lawyer in Florida, he has represented doctors who have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect themselves in litigation. However, "if a bankruptcy judge decides that the prosecution was willful and malicious," the news agency notes, "the debt to the players would not be erased under federal bankruptcy law."

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